What is an ACE SPEC card?
An ACE SPEC is a Trainer or Special Energy card with an unusually strong effect and one strict rule: your deck can contain only one ACE SPEC card. You can recognise them by the ACE SPEC label on the card.
There are no ACE SPEC Pokémon. Every one of the 42 is a Trainer card (an Item, Pokémon Tool or Stadium) or a Special Energy.
How many ACE SPEC cards can you have in a deck?
One, in total. The limit counts across all ACE SPECs, not per card, so a deck with Prime Catcher cannot also run Hero's Cape. The rule is printed on the cards themselves and applies in every format.
The original ACE SPECs from Black & White
ACE SPEC started in Boundaries Crossed in November 2012 and ran until Plasma Blast in August 2013: 13 cards over four sets. The best known is Computer Search, which lets you discard 2 cards from your hand to search your deck for any card. Dowsing Machine works the same way for your discard pile and returns a Trainer card to your hand.
These old ACE SPECs can no longer be played in Standard. They are still legal in Expanded, which starts at Black & White.
Boundaries Crossed and Plasma Storm (2012 to 2013)
The first seven ACE SPECs.
Plasma Freeze and Plasma Blast (2013)
The last six of the Black & White era.
ACE SPECs in Scarlet & Violet
ACE SPEC came back in Temporal Forces in March 2024, more than ten years after Plasma Blast. Scarlet & Violet added 29 new ones over six sets, and for the first time three of them were Special Energy: Neo Upper Energy, Legacy Energy and Enriching Energy.
Three names from Black & White returned as new cards: Master Ball, Scramble Switch and Scoop Up Cyclone.
Temporal Forces (March 2024)
Seven ACE SPECs, including Prime Catcher and the first ACE SPEC Energy.
Twilight Masquerade (May 2024)
Six more, among them Unfair Stamp and Legacy Energy.
The best-known Scarlet & Violet ACE SPECs
Prime Catcher switches one of your opponent's Benched Pokémon into the Active Spot, then lets you switch your own Active Pokémon too. Unfair Stamp can only be played after one of your Pokémon was Knocked Out on your opponent's last turn: both players shuffle their hand into their deck, then you draw 5 cards and your opponent draws 2.
Hero's Cape gives the Pokémon it is attached to +100 HP. Legacy Energy provides every type of Energy, and if the Pokémon it is attached to is Knocked Out by an attack, your opponent takes one fewer Prize card.
Shrouded Fable and Stellar Crown (2024)
Three each, in August and September 2024.
Surging Sparks (November 2024)
Eight ACE SPECs, the most in any single set.
How many ACE SPEC cards are there?
There are 42 different ACE SPEC cards in English: 13 from Black & White and 29 from Scarlet & Violet. Prismatic Evolutions in January 2025 added the last two new ones, Max Rod and Treasure Tracker, and reprinted Maximum Belt, Prime Catcher, Scoop Up Cyclone and Sparkling Crystal, which makes 46 printings.
Prismatic Evolutions is also the most recent set with an ACE SPEC. None of the Mega Evolution sets released since September 2025 has added one.
Prismatic Evolutions (January 2025)
Two new ACE SPECs and four reprints.
How much are ACE SPEC cards worth?
Most Scarlet & Violet ACE SPECs are cheap. In late September 2026, the Cardmarket prices in Pooka had Hero's Cape at about €15, Unfair Stamp at about €9 and Prime Catcher at about €1.
Prices follow what is being played, so they move with every new set. Pooka updates the Cardmarket and eBay price of every ACE SPEC daily, and you can mark the ones you own to see which of the 42 you still need.
